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THE 

Whispering fairy 

Constructive Stories 
for Children 

By yT\ 

Martha S. Gielow 

Author of “The Light on the Rill,” “Child Training in 
the Realm of Thought,” “Bird Jingles and 
Robin Songs,” “Lady Bird’s 
Adventures,” Etc., Etc. 



Published by 

J. F. ROWNY PRESS 

Los Angeles 

1923 




Copyright, 1923 
By 

MARTHA S. GIELOW 

Long Beach, Cal. 


• -i 

* ♦ 
4 4 * 


NOV 16 1923 


©C1A700200 






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Dedicated to 

The Members oe My Happy Hour 
Story Ceub by the Sea 






















THE WHISPERING FAIRY 
Chapter I 
DEPENDABLE 


NCE upon a time a crowd of the little 
boys and girls of Rose Mary Glen were 
playing in the vacant lot near their 

Suddenly one of the boys called out, “I say, 
Tots! Pve just thought of something!” 

All the “Tots” gathered round the speaker at 
once and asked—“What is it? Tell us what it is.” 

“Something fine!” exclaimed William, the boy 
speaking—“Let’s form a Club and have members 
like the Red Cross and play being Soldiers!” 

“But the girls can’t be Soldiers,” said Benny. 

“And we can’t collect money!” said Jamie. 

“We can, too,” replied William, “and girls can 
be Soldiers in this Club, too, and we can buy 
candy for our meetings—so there!” 

“Who’s going to be President?” asked Benny. 

“Well, not you, Benny,” replied William, “for 
you are not dependable!” 

“What you mean ?” asked Benny. 

[5] 





The Whispering Fairy 

“I mean we can’t depend on you. You’d forget 
to come and forget to call meetings, and forget 
everything.” 

All the children laughed and poor Benny looked 
quite crestfallen, for he knew William had said 
what was true about his forgetfulness, but he 
straightened up and said—“I can be a member, 
anyhow, can’t I ?” 

“I don’t know,” replied William, “we want 
members that we can depend on, as well as a 
President we can depend on—our Club is going 
to be a sure-enough service: club as well as a 
play club, and we will have to vote on it, for 
every member must be reliable.” 

“Just now you said dependable,” remarked 
Jamie. 

“Well, to be dependable is to be reliable! 
Haven’t you ever heard about Garcia ?” 

“Who’s Garcia ?” 

“I think he was a Spanish General; anyway, 
you know who President McKinley was! Well, 
during the Spanish War he wanted to send a 
very important message to this here Garcia. No 
one knew where he was nor how to find him, 
but President McKinley wrote his letter and sent 
for a messenger to take it. My daddy says he 

[ 6 ] 


Dependable 

just asked for a Soldier that he could depend on ; 
so they sent him a Soldier that the Captain knew 
would do what he was told to do. President 
McKinley handed the letter to the Soldier and 
said: “Take it to Garcia!” That was all he said, 
and daddy says, the Soldier took the letter and 
saluted (like we got to do), and went out. He 
didn’t stop to ask who Garcia was, nor what he 
looked like, nor where he was, nor which way 
to go to find him, nor anything. He just took the 
letter and started out on his own hook, and found 
Garcia, and gave him the message. That’s being 
dependable, and dad says anybody that’s depen¬ 
dable can be trusted, and we can’t trust anybody 
who is not dependable. So our members must 
be as dependable as the Soldier who carried the 
message to Garcia.” 

“Say, William—’sposen you be President—you 
know how, and ’sposen we take Benny on trial!” 
said Tommy. 

“Take me on trial, too, won’t you, William!” 
asked Helen and Mary and several others, all 
together. 

“All right!” said William, “now we’ll organize; 
how many of you can take a message to Garcia?” 

“You mean to do what we are told to do with- 

[ 7 ] 


The Whispering Fairy 

out asking someone else and bothering the Presi¬ 
dent ?” 

“That’s it, now how many of you are going to 
be dependable?” 

Every hand went up. 

“That’s fine!” said William, “and now we are 
formed in a Club our motto is to be the Golden 
Rule and our watchword for a whole week is 
‘dependable.’ Let’s see how many of you can 
be depended on to clean up this lot and put it in 
order for our headquarters, and get boards and 
boxes for seats.” 

“Let’s get a tent! An army tent!” exclaimed 
Harold, “and rig it up with a flagpole and flag 
and a wireless! My Uncle Jim is an Officer and 
he will help us, I know!” 

“All right, Harold, we’ll depend on you for the 
tent and we’ll depend on the girls to plant flowers, 
and we’ll depend on the boys to clean up and 
get the fixings by next meeting—today a week, 
Saturday. Remember the password.” 

The Tots gave a cheer. 

“What made you think of the Club, William?” 
asked Jamie. 

“Can’t you guess, Jamie — where’s your 

[ 8 ] 


Dependable 


thinker? your sense —your intelligence!” cried 
out several others. 

“I know!” said little Helen, “it was the little 
whispering Fairy, our teacher told us about— 
she’s always flitting about, we can’t see her, but 
she whispers to us!” 

“Helen guessed right,” said William. 

“I was trying to think what we could do to 
have more fun. Then I thought about the Club. 
The idea was good, so we know the whispering 
Fairy must have been around here, for she brings 
only good thoughts and good ideas.” 

“Yes—it was the whispering fairy!” said 
Mary, “for you were wanting to do something 
good to make us all happy, and the whispering 
Fairy is an Angel—my mother says. She says 
Angels are God’s thoughts, and every time a good 
thought comes to us it is an Angel or whispering 
Fairy.” 

“I wish I could hear a whispering fairy!” 
said Billy. 

“Well, you can, Billy!” said Mary. “Just wish 
to do a kind deed, and something in your heart 
will tell you what to do!” 

“Is THAT the WHISPERING FAIRY?” 

[ 9 ] 


The Whispering Fairy 

“Of course it is—so let’s all think hard and 
see what she’ll suggest for our next meeting.” 

“Whoever has the best idea of service to others 
she will have whispered to,” said Helen. “I’m 
going to ask her to whisper to ME.” 

“You will have to be dependable, then,” said 
William, “and think only of doing good. I hope 
she’ll tell us what we can do to make our Club 
a success. Let’s see what she’ll tell us, and 
listen! listen! listen hard, for she whispers 
so faintly no one can hear her unless we are very 
still when she’s about.” 

“She’s always about!” said Mary. “My 
teacher says she is, but we don’t hear her unless 
we do keep still, so we must keep still and just 
listen hard when we want a good thought for our 
Club. I’m going to think of her when I go to bed 
tonight—maybe I will see her, too. I hope she 
looks like a twinkle star.” 

“Maybe she looks like a butterfly”—said Betty. 

“No, no, Betty,” replied Mary, “for she is a 
little spirit-fairy, and we can’t see her, though 
she must have wings.” 

“Anyway, we can hear her,” said Benny, “so 
all we’ve got to do is to always be listening for 

[ 10 ] 


Dependable 


good thoughts—that is, good ideas. Now, let’s 
have a game of hop—I can beat—here goes!” 

Off they all hopped like a flock of grasshoppers, 
and they had lots of fun playing until time to 
go home to supper, when they could hardly eat 
for telling of their plans for their wonderful Club 
—called the “tots’ crub o f rose mary glen.” 



[ 11 ] 


Chapter II 

STABILITY 

The “tots’ club op rose mary glKn” met the 
next Saturday in the same vacant lot, but my! 
What a change! All the tin cans and waste paper 
and trash and old paper boxes had entirely dis¬ 
appeared, and in the middle of the lot was a sure- 
enough tent with a flag flying from the top. There 
were nice, clean wooden boxes to sit on, and a 
big box for a table, and a border of ferns planted 
all around the tent, and flowers were set out, and 
everything looked “fine and dandy.” 

And, best of all, the “tots” looked so happy 
and full of joy; the very sunshine seemed to be 
dancing in fun, and all the birds that lived in the 
big tree near the tent were singing away, as if 
they had formed a band to celebrate the occasion. 

William looked very proud and important as 
he took the President’s box seat by the box table 
to call the roll. 

“Benny!” he called out first, and Benny said 
“Present!” as loud as ever he could. 

[ 12 ] 


Stability 

“Mary!” “Present!” 

“Helen!” “Present!” 

“Betty!” “Present!” 

“Jamie!” “Present!” 

“Harold!” “Present!” 

“Billy!” -. 

No Billy responded. The children looked 
about, but there was no Billy anywhere to be 
seen. 

“Billy got tired of helping to clean up,” said 
Jamie. 

“That’s as bad as not being dependable, ” said 
William—“that shows he has no stability !” 

“What’s that?” asked Jamie. 

“Stability? That means he has no firmness 
of character, and can’t stand by what he under¬ 
takes, no steadfastness—my dad would say, no 
stickability, and that reminds me of a story 
daddy told me just last night.” 

“What was it, William?” they all exclaimed. 

“Dad said if we tots would stick to our plans 
we might become a very useful Club. But you 
will have to stick to it, he said, and be like the 
postage stamp. He said one day a great man— 
an English statesman—his name was Gladstone, 
I think, was speaking in the English Parliament 

[13] 



The Whispering Fairy 


to a lot of people, and he told them that the little 
penny postage stamp could teach a wonderful 
lesson to the greatest man in the world by its 
stickabiuty. Why, the little postage stamp, he 
said, could be depended on to take a message all 
around the world and stick on the job until the 
letter was delivered to its destination. Daddy 
says, that’s more than some men can do—to stick 
to the end if it’s a hard job, and dad says just 
think what might happen if the stamp came off, 
and failed to stick! Why, the letter might never 
get there, and it might be a letter with money 
in it, or with most important news. It might 
contain a pardon for some poor criminal, and 
be too late to save him. And it might be good 
news to somebody who would go on grieving; 
it might be a chance for somebody to get a job. 
So if the stamps were not dependable and 
wouldn’t stick to the job any better than Billy 
did, lots of things would go wrong.” 

“What you going to do to Billy?” asked Benny. 

“Suppose we ask the whispering Fairy what 
to do?” suggested Mary. 

“How can we ask her when we don’t ever see 
her?” asked Helen. 


[ 14 ] 


Stability 


'‘Why, we must just all get still, and think of 
what is best to do!” 

“You mean just wish,” asked Jamie. 

“Yes, Jamie, right thinking is like praying, if 
we are wishing for something that’s good. We 
must all wish and wish and wish, and in our 
thoughts we must want to do what is right. Then 
we must listen for the whisper and we will 
know.” 

“Oh, yes!” cried Jamie—“the whispering 
Eairy will tell us! Say tots, get still ! Get still, 
quick! She’s bound to come and tell us what 
to do.” 

And all the tots got as still as mice, and wished 
and wished in their hearts to know what to do 
with Billy for not being dependable. 

I wish you could have seen them, for it was 
a lovely sight to see them sitting there in perfect 
silence to catch a good thought. And the whis¬ 
pering Eairy was so happy, she just filled their 
hearts full of love, for she is a love-fairy whis¬ 
pering God’s thoughts, for God is love and all 
good thoughts are from Him. 

Mary spoke first. “I heard her!” she said 
softly— 

“What did she say?” asked Benny. 

[ 15 ] 


The Whispering Fairy 

She said—“Give Billy a chance!” 

All the tots clapped their hands, for they all 
liked Billy. 

“I heard her whisper ‘love,’ said Helen. 

“I felt love, too,” said William. “So let’s all 
just love Billy all we can—that’s the way to give 
him a chance. If we don’t fuss with him and be 
kind to him, he will come back and love the Club 
better than he loves shirking. My teacher says 
we must only see the good, and everything will 
be good. For you know we must do unto others 
as we would be done by!” 

All the tots clapped again and cried out— 
“The Golden Rule! The Golden Rule! Why, 
that’s our Club motto!” 

“Sure!” shouted the President, “our golden 
motto forever! And now, how many of you 
are pledged to stick? Pledged to stick like a 
stamp to the end of the journey?” 

Every hand went up. 

“Well, then, stickability is our password for 

this week—and we don’t want any stamps to 
come off.” 

Just at that minute Billy peeped in the tent. 

“Come in, Billy!” they all cried—“We are 

[ 16 ] 


Stability 


going to be Club stamps, and stick to the Club 
and do lots of things.” 

“But I didn’t stick!” said Billy, half-ashamed, 
“I was a slacker—and—and—and—I’m sorry.” 
Billy was nearly in tears. 

“That makes it all right, Billy!” said William 
—“you have another chance—we are going to go 
by our motto and do as we would be done by, 
stick together—and stick to our purpose—to be a 
service: club— and we want you to help us rig 
a wireless.” 

“You mean it, William! You are not going to 
turn me out?” 

“’Cose not! I mean it, sure—you are a Charter 
Member—and—and—I know you’ll stick on after 
this.” 

“Yes, I will!” said Billy, “I don’t care how hard 
it is—I’ll stick to it!” 

“That’s the way to talk, and now let’s plan for 
a show to raise some money to work with. We 
need tools and games and swings and all sorts 
of things.” 

“My daddy is going to help us,” said Benny. 

“And my uncle who loaned the tent and the 
flag is going to give us a bugle, and then we can 
drill,” said Harold. 


[ 17 ] 


The Whispering Fairy 

“That’s Pine!” they all exclaimed, “and now 
for a race!” All the tots filed out of the tent and 
lined up for a run across the lot—boys and girls, 
side by side. It was a jolly sight and lots of 
people stopped to enjoy the happy play and 
wished all children could be as well and full 
of joy. 

Before the tots saluted the flag and lowered 
it for the night, they posted up the following 
sign on the tent: 

“A big show will be given in this tent soon 
to buy fixings for the playgrounds of the tots’ 
CLUB OF ROSE MARY GLFN.” 



[ 18 ] 


Chapter III 

WORK 

“Did anyone ever see the like of this ? Why, 
I can’t believe my eyes! This old lot used to be 
a rubbish heap—and now, look!” 

William’s father was speaking to Harold’s 
uncle, Jim. Uncle Jim laughed like a big boy as 
he looked about and examined the flagpole and 
the wireless apparatus he had given. There were 
now swings and swinging ropes and bars, and all 
the arrangements for making a perfect play¬ 
ground. And, besides, there were the flowers and 
the orderly fixtures inside the tent. 

“How did they do it?” asked Uncle Jim. 

“Why, they gave a circus and big show while 
you were away,” replied William’s father, “and 
of all the fun I ever saw—the whole neighbor¬ 
hood turned out to see it. They made a lot of 
dimes, and when we saw how earnest they were 
and how hard they had worked, we all chipped 
in and bought the entire playground outfit. These 
boys and girls are trying to think right, and this 

[19] 


The Whispering Fairy 

is the result of their right thinking. The spirit 
of their understanding of the truth, and of think¬ 
ing only good, and believing in the Divine guid¬ 
ance of God’s love, is manifesting in their perfect 
happiness, perfect health and perfect success. We 
are going to have some fine men and women out 
of this little bunch of tots. And now Billy’s 
father is going to let the ‘Club’ have the next 
lot for a garden, and we parents are to buy at 
market prices all of their vegetables and berries. 
We have advanced the spades and hoes and rakes 
so they can get to work.” 

“Fine! Fine!” exclaimed Uncle Jim. “If the 
parents and schools had only been teaching chil¬ 
dren all these years the value of right thinking, 
and the true fundamentals of right living and 
right playing, what a different world we would 
be living in! But it is better late than never. 
The children are the hope of the world! They 
more quickly absorb and understand the teach¬ 
ings of true thinking than grown people. I often 
think of the ‘Little Nazarene’ when he talked 
with the law-makers in the temple, when Harold 
tells me of how the ‘Club’ sits in silence when 
they want to catch a good thought, and how it 
always results in good, for they are living the 

[ 20 ] 


Work 

principle of the Golden Rule in reality and trying 
to do as they would be done by.” 

“Yes, they have caught on to a wonderful fact, 
and when William proves to me the absolute 
working of the law in the realm of thought I 
wish I might have had even a glimpse of this 
teaching when I was a boy,” replied William’s 
father. 

Harold’s uncle put a bright silver dollar on the 
box-table and wrote on a piece of paper—“This 
is to help the work of the Tots' Club of Rose 
Mary Glen.” 

The two men slipped away, for it was nearly 
time for the Tots to assemble. 

It wasn’t long before they filled the play¬ 
grounds with their happy laughter. William soon 
went to the tent and rapped with a rock on the 
box-table to call the “business meeting” to order. 
Obedience being one of their rule words—all the 
members scampered away from the swings and 
were soon answering the roll call in fine order. 

“Someone has been in this ‘clubhouse,’ ” said 
William, after calling the roll, “and left this new 
silver dollar and this writing, which says it is to 
help the work of the Tots Club of Rose Mary 
Glen.” 


[ 21 ] 


The Whispering Fairy 

“I wonder who it could have been!” exclaimed 
several. 

“It might have been the fairy!” whispered 
Betty. 

“No, it must have been a real somebody,” said 
Billy. 

“Well, anyway, the fairy must have been 
along,” said Mary, “for every good deed comes 
from a good thought, and the fairy must have 
been whispering to them to help us.” 

“That’s it!” said William, “that’s just it! And 
now we must make good with this dollar. It’s 
like the gift of the five talents in the Bible. We 
must work harder than ever to double it—get 
our garden started. Then we want a work-shop 
where we can make things inside the tent (I 
mean the clubhouse) when it’s raining.” 

“Carried!” cried several. 

“Can’t we ever just play?” asked Jamie. 

“Why, it’s all play!” replied William. “It’s 
just fun to cut and saw and make things.” 

“But digging and planting is hard and tire¬ 
some,” pleaded Jamie. 

“Why, of course it is if you think it is!” re¬ 
marked Helen, “and so is jumping the bars and 
pumping the swing, if you think it is.” 

[ 22 ] 


Work 

“You ought to hear my Uncle Jim read about 
‘Tom Sawyer’ ”, said Harold. “ ‘Tom Sawyer’ 
thought whitewashing the fence was awful hard 
work because it was doing something of some 
use, but soon as he began to make believe it was 
fun and play, and to whistle as he worked, why 
Huckleberry Finn and all the other boys stand¬ 
ing ’round begged to do a turn at the whitewash¬ 
ing, and even Tom soon realized that it was the 
best sort of fun dipping the brush into the white 
suds and painting the fence all clean and white, 
and not work at all.” 

“But that was just making believe,” persisted 
Jamie. 

“No, it was changing his mind or his thought, 
Jamie,” said Mary. “He did make believe at 
first, and whistled and pretended to be having 
fun to get the boys to help him. That was better 
than grumbling and shirking the job, and soon 
the work did become real fun to him and to all 
the boys. We can always change from ugly 
thoughts to good thoughts, and make gloomy 
things bright, if we try.” 

“Hurrah for you, Mary!” said William, “all 
work is play and real enjoyment, if we make it 
so. Father says all great men succeed by loving 

[ 23 ] 


The Whispering Fairy 

their work—no one who hates their work will 
ever succeed.” 

“And mother says—‘Nothing that is not worth 
working for is worth while’ ”, said Helen. 

“My Uncle Jim says the same thing,” said 
Harold, “he says everything that is worth any¬ 
thing has to be worked for—he says the earth 
is full of everything good, but we have to dig it 
out. The gold and silver and diamonds have to 
be mined, and the things we plant in the ground 
have to be worked. We can’t have anything or 
make anything without work. We wouldn’t have 
big ships or airplanes, or engines and railroads, 
or Panama Canals or houses and buildings. Uncle 
Jim says work is the greatest blessing to man¬ 
kind. It gives people interest in life and interest 
in doing big things, and people at work are the 
happiest people of all, for the idle people have no 
interest to keep them busy, and so they are full 
of discontent and are grouchy.” 

“Let’s take work for our password this week,” 
suggested William. “Let’s play at being at work 
—and whistle all the time—you’ll see those boys 
looking over the fence at us, offering to come in 
and help with the garden—we’ll get lots of new 


[ 24 ] 


Work 

members—you’ll see—and not just for the 
swings.” 

“Carried! Carried!” cried the “Tots.” 

“Who wants to pick rocks off the wet lot and 
help clear ground for the garden?” 

Every hand went up. “Good!” 

“Who wants to lay off the walk down the 
middle?—Just two boys needed!” 

Harold and Billy held up hands. 

“Good! Who wants to lay off the rows for 
peas and other vegetables?” 

Jamie held up his hands with Mary—and soon 
the work was all planned and laid out, and every 
“Tot” had a part to play, and they took up their 
small spades and rakes and hoes and went bravely 
to work and played at making a garden. They 
had lots of fun, and after an hour’s work they 
took turns swinging and jumping and rolling balls 
and playing all sorts of games. That was a 
harder effort than the garden work had been. 
But they had thought any play was fun, no 
matter how hard, and they soon found out that 
making things, creating a garden, or a table out 
of a box, was even more fun than just games. 


[ 25 ] 


Chapter IV 

DETERMINATION 

One day Billy’s father went around to see how 
the garden was coming on, and he certainly felt 
proud when he saw what the “Tots” had done 
with his vacant lot. Radishes and peas and beans 
and onions were coming up in nice stately rows. 
Billy had told him how the Club members had 
watched the seed sprout, and what wonderful 
fun it was to see the tiny leaves put out their 
little hands for the sun to warm and take hold 
of, and to see plants bob up in a night, after a 
shower. To watch them grow was the greatest 
fun they had ever had. Now Billy wanted to 
plant some pumpkin seed because it bore the big¬ 
gest of all vegetables. His father had advised 
him not to do so, as he explained, one pumpkin 
vine would fill up the entire lot, but Mr. Billy 
thought he knew best, and so he planted, not 
one, but several pumpkin seeds. So his father 
was taking a peep to see if they were up, for he 
knew what the result of Billy’s determination 

[ 26 ] 


Determination 

would be. Sure enough, there were the little 
pumpkin seeds sprouting up in several places— 
two little fat, saucy leaves like rabbit ears—and 
you could almost see little twinkling eyes peep¬ 
ing from under them, looking to see which way 
they were going to run, and in fact they decided 
to run all over the garden in every direction. 
Billy’s father chuckled, as he noted the coming 
rain, for he knew what would happen after a 
week of showers. 

A week or more after that the rain stopped 
and the sun came out, and old “Sol” took a peep 
at the garden to warm up things, and he must 
have smiled brightly at the progress the plants 
were making, especially the pumpkin vines. The 
Tots were eager to see how the growing was 
coming on, and so as soon as it was dry enough, 
they went in a body to the garden to see how 
things looked. Everything looked fresh and 
green and fine, but lo and behold, there was a 
big green vine, running all over everything, and 
pushing down other plants that were not strong 
enough to hold up. 

“What in the world is all that covering up our 
lettuce and radishes and peas?” exclaimed Betty. 

“It must be Billy’s pumpkins,” William said. 

[ 27 ] 


The Whispering Fairy 

“Here it is all over my peas,” cried Mary, “and 
here it is running all over the walk we made so 
smooth, and we can hardly get along without 
being tripped up.” 

“What are we going to do with it?” asked 
Helen. 

“I’ll clip the ends off,” said Billy regretfully, 
and he took his hoe and chopped off all the long 
runners that were destroying the other plants. 

In a few days, however, the pumpkin vines put 
out fresh runners and almost like the magic 
gourd vine of the Bible story, that grew up in 
a night to cover Jonah from the sun, the entire 
garden was a network of scrambling pumpkin 
vines, that threatened to overgrow and destroy 
everything else, and that was not doing right 
by others. 

Poor Billy was in despair—he had been deter¬ 
mined to have his way and he had to learn that 
determination was only good when applied in a 
right direction. He had to pull up every one of 
his pumpkin vines, except one—which he had in 
a far corner and tried to keep fenced in. He 
got over being teased and laughed at, for in time 
he had a fine big yellow pumpkin which was a 
pride to the garden and Club members. 

[ 28 ] 


Determination 

“We will take determination for our next 
watchword,” said William as he closed the meet¬ 
ing. Determination is a great force. See what 
we’ve done by determination with making our 
garden—we can do whatever we want to do, if 
we are determined , and stick to it.” 

The members all clapped and the meeting ad¬ 
journed. 

One day when the Tots gathered for work in 
the garden and to gather the ripening vegetables, 
Helen and Mary and little Martha cried out, “Oh, 
boys, come here! Something has been eating the 
lettuce and every cabbage plant has been nipped!” 

Sure enough it was true. 

“What can it be?” asked Betty. 

“It must be a mole, or a rabbit, or something 
of the kind,” said William, “and we must think 
what is best to do to protect our things from 
such marauders.” 

“What are marauders?” asked Jamie. 

“Why, marauders are thieves!” exclaimed Billy, 
“and I’d just like to catch them nibbling my 
pumpkin!” 

“But how are we going to catch them?” asked 
Martha. 


[ 29 ] 


The Whispering Fairy 

“I know! I know!” cried Harold; “let’s have 
a 'tar baby’—don’t you remember the story Un¬ 
cle Jim told us about Mr. Fox? He had a gar¬ 
den of peanuts—he called ’em goobers—and one 
night he found that some one had been digging— 
he said grabbing his goobers, which grow in the 
ground. So to catch the thief he made a big 
tar baby and put it in the middle of his goober 
patch. That night Mr. Rabbit, who was the one 
that had been helping himself to Mr. Fox’s goo¬ 
bers, came clippety-clip-clippety-clip to the gar¬ 
den. He saw the tar baby and called out, 'Who’s 
dat standing dar stealing Brer Fox’s goobers?’ 
Nobody answered, so he got bold and walked up 
to the tar baby and said, ‘Where’s your manners ? 
Why don’t you speak when you’re asked a ques¬ 
tion? I’m going to teach you some manners,’ 
and with that the bold Mr. Rabbit hauled off and 
hit the tar baby with his foot—co-plunk! And 
his foot stuck fast in the tar, and there he stuck 
till Mr. Fox came to the garden next day and 
gave him a licking and pulled him off. I’m sure 
it’s a rabbit that’s stealing our things, but we 
haven’t any tar, so just let’s fix a trap, and catch 
him.” 

“Carried! Carried!” they all cried, and off 

[ 30 ] 


Determination 

they started for the shop, where they made a 
nice little trap, and took it to the cabbage bed 
and set it where Mr. Rabbit, or who ever it was, 
seemed to like the nice crisp leaves best. Next 
morning, the Tots hurried to the garden, and 
peeped in the trap, but there was no sign of a 
rabbit. While they were thinking what to do 
next, a tiny little bunnie ran out from under a 
lettuce head and scampered away across the 
garden. 

The Tots were so taken by surprise they could 
hardly move, but seeing the bunnie pause to look 
back, they ran after him, calling out, “Stop, thief! 
Stop!” The poor little frightened bunnie did 
stop; he was so scared he couldn’t hop a step 
farther, and Martha ran up to him and covered 
him with her two hands. 

All the Tots gathered around the captured cul¬ 
prit, and bunnie looked so cute and innocent, and 
trembled so pitifully, they all wanted to keep 
him for a pet, and give him all the cabbage leaves 
and lettuce he could eat. 

“Of course he didn’t know it was wrong to 
help himself to our vegetables,” said Betty, “so 
don’t let’s call him a thief—let’s be good to him 
and give him all he needs to eat, then he won’t 

[ 31 ] 


The Whispering Fairy 

steal. I mean he won’t take things. Let’s do 
to him as we would have him do to us.” 

“Carried! Carried!” cried the Club members, 
and clapped so heartily that poor little bunnie 
nearly jumped out of Martha’s arms. 

“Let’s make a pretty cage out of the trap!” 
said William. 

“Carried! Carried!” they all cried again, and 
taking the trap that bunnie had walked in and 
out of, he was so tiny, they went to the work¬ 
shop and made a pretty cage, and filled it with 
good crisp leaves, and put bunnie in it, in a 
pretty corner of the playground, where he lived 
happily. He grew nicely and became so tame 
the Tots made him an honorary member of the 
Club, and let him run around the playgrounds 
and garden whenever he wanted to, and he never 
did nibble the plants, for he was well fed, and 
trained to eat in his own corner. 

“Bunnie is a real good Christian bunnie now,” 
said Betty one day; “he never takes what does 
not belong to him, and I am sure he knows right 
from wrong. Yes, he certainly knows the Golden 
Rule and tries to live by it just as we do.” 

“Of course he does,” replied Helen; “he can 
think, and I am sure the whispering fairy puts 

[ 32 ] 


Determination 


good thoughts in his funny little head, and he is 
just full of love. See how he looks at us, and 
nestles up to us? He seems to understand all 
we say. See how he watches us play and runs 
after us and to meet us? Oh, he is such a dar¬ 
ling, I’m so glad he came!” 

“I wish we had another live pet to play with 
and keep him company!” said Betty. 

“Well, we can,” said Mary. “All we’ve got 
to do is to wish for it, and think the right 
thoughts about it.” 

“The whispering fairy must be around,” said 
Jamie, “for she brings us all our good wishes 
and ideas on her magic wings, and takes our good 
thoughts and good wishes right to God, for she 
is the Angel messenger.” 

“That’s so,” said Betty, “so let’s all wish for 
another rabbit or some nice pet tonight when we 
say our prayers in the silence.” 

“I will!” “I will!” “I will!” they all ex¬ 
claimed, and so after the last game of ball, they 
all went home as happy as happy could be to tell 
their parents about their good times and how they 
were going to wish in their prayers for another 
live pet to play with. 


[ 33 ] 


Chapter V 
INTEGRITY 

The Tots were having a meeting in their Club 
House. There were lots of new members and 
they were all as happy as could be and as busy 
as a hive of busy bees making honey. Bunnie 
rabbit was present, sitting in his cage listening, 
and one of the little new members named Cath¬ 
erine who held a little snow-white doggie in her 
lap which she called Snowball. Betty was sit¬ 
ting by Catherine and held another little doggie 
in her lap almost as pretty as “Snowball/’ only 
he was brown, so she called him “Brownie.” 

William, the President of the Club, said he 
wanted to tell all the members of the Tots’ Club 
of Rosemary Glen about one of the new mem¬ 
bers. “No, three of the new members!” cried 
Betty, “for we have two doggies and Catherine 
which makes three.” All the Tots laughed and 
clapped their hands, and then waited for Wil¬ 
liam to speak. 

“Well,” said William, seeing they were all 

[ 34 ] 


Integrity 


quiet, “let me tell you a wonderful thing. You 
remember at our last meeting we were going to 
wish for another sure-enough pet to play with 
our little bunnie rabbit. Every one of us wished 
and wished and wished, and I know the little 
whispering fairy, which is also a little listening 
fairy, for she listens to everything we think, 
must have listened and heard our wishes for 
another little pet, for while Betty and Mary were 
walking in the park they saw a little snow-white 
doggie running about sniffing the ground and 
whining like a little lost child. And he was lost, 
and he was so scared he didn’t know what to do. 
Betty called to the little lost puppy, and said: 
‘Come here, little doggie; I will take care of you. 
Don’t cry, little doggie, don’t cry and don’t be 
afraid. Mary and I will take care of you until 
your owner comes.’ The doggie ran to Betty 
and snuggled up to her and looked so glad, and 
Betty wanted awfully to keep the little doggie 
as her very own, but she remembered our Golden 
Rule Club Motto, to ‘do to others as we would 
have others do to us,’ and she knew it would be 
wrong.” 

“Yes,” said Mary, “we felt sure somebody that 
owned him was looking for him and perhaps cry- 

[ 35 ] 


The Whispering Fairy 

ing right then, so we started at once to look all 
over the park for the owner, though we did want 
to keep him so badly.” 

“But our Club stands for Integrity,” said Wil¬ 
liam. 

“What’s integrity”? asked Billy. 

“Why, it means being honest and truthful and 
doing the right thing. Billy and Betty and Mary 
are honest and truthful, as all of us try to be, 
and we must stand for doing right always and 
we will always be trusted.” 

“That’s so, William,” said Harold. “Uncle 
Jim says if a man has integrity he’s all right, 
for everybody will trust him.” 

“Well,” continued William, “Mary and Betty 
looked and looked and looked and they couldn’t 
find the owner of the little dog. It was getting 
late and they were tired of walking, so they sat 
down to rest and to think what to do. ‘We can’t 
leave him in the park,’ said Betty, ‘for some one 
who doesn’t live by the Golden Rule might take 
him and keep him and that would be so mean.’ 
‘Yes,’ said Mary, ‘and if we leave him some big 
dog might fight him. Oh! what shall we do?’ 
‘We must do what’s right,’ repeated Betty. ‘Let 
us think what is best.’ After a little quiet rest 

[ 36 ] 


Integrity 


Betty said: ‘Mary, I know what to do; we will 
take the doggie home and care for him tonight 
and get Father to put a notice in the morning 
paper saying we have found the little lost dog¬ 
gie, and the owner can call for him at our house.’ 
‘Why, Betty, that’s the very idea. Let’s hurry 
home quick.’ The little doggie seemed to under¬ 
stand and he wagged his little tail and said bow¬ 
wow, bow-wow, and ran along with Betty and 
Mary, and when they reached home he ate a 
saucer full of bread and milk and curled up 
in a little basket they fixed for him and went 
sound asleep. Betty’s mother gave the girls an 
extra nice supper for being so kind to the little 
lost doggie, and said they did the right thing to 
bring him home. Betty’s father went at once to 
the newspaper office and put in the notice. Mary 
and Betty slept all night and dreamed that the 
little doggie was their own little doggie to keep. 
But there was another little girl named Cather¬ 
ine who did not sleep nor dream, for she was 
crying all night for her lost pet. In the morning, 
however, her mother read the notice in the paper 
that their precious pet was found, and Catherine 
was so happy she and her mother went at once 
to Betty’s home to get their pet. They rang the 

[ 37 ] 


The Whispering Fairy 

door bell and there was little Snowball, so happy 
to see them he jumped up and down and bow- 
wowed as loud as he could. Betty and Mary had 
learned to love him so dearly they were sorry to 
give him up, and Catherine told them not to be 
sorry, for Snowball had a tiny little brother they 
were going to give away, and she would give him 
to them. Oh! how happy they were. Betty and 
Mary threw their arms around Catherine and 
kissed her and thanked her, and they went home 
with her and her mother and got the lovely little 
brown puppy you see in Betty’s lap. You see it 
is always best to be true and honest and never 
to keep what is not your own. Now Catherine 
is to be a member of our Club, and Snowball 
and Brownie are also to be members, and we 
have gotten our wish for another live pet.” 

So let’s take integrity for our motto this 
week. All the members clapped and clapped so 
loud that Bunnie rabbit was frightened and ran 
out of his cage, and Snowball and Brownie ran 
after him, and all the Tots ran after the little 
doggies to keep them from hurting Bunnie, and 
such a happy time as they did have. The dog¬ 
gies and bunnie became fast friends, and the 
doggies always come to the Club meetings to 

[ 38 ] 


Integrity 

play and frolic with bunnie, who lives in the 
Club garden in his nice little cage, and all the 
Tots love him and the doggies and they all have 
great fun together. 



[391 



Chapter VI 
COURTESY 

It was a fine day and the Tots were all in 
their Club playgrounds having lots of fun, for 
it was Saturday and they were free from school 
all day. 

Betty and Mary and Helen and Catherine and 
Martha were sewing doll clothes, while the boys 
were swinging and exercising on the bars. 

Snowball and Brownie were running around 
with Bunnie rabbit, while the two pet robins sat 
on the top of the pretty bird house the Tots had 
made for them, singing for dear life. Presently, 
William rang the Club bell for the Club meeting 
to begin and all the Tots ran to the Club House 
as fas as they could run, the doggies and Bunnie 
rabbit running after them. 

William called the roll, and all answered “Pres¬ 
ent” but Billy. 

“I wonder why Billy does not come,” said 
William. 

“There he comes now,” said Harold. 

“What made you so late, Billy? We have 

[ 40 ] 


Courtesy 

been waiting to call the roll and open the Club 
meeting ever so long/’ said William. 

“I took an old lady home/’ replied Billy. 

“Who was she?” 

“I don’t know.” 

“What did you have to take her home for?” 

“Well, William, she was old and she fell down. 
I helped her up and picked up her things. Some 
boys laughed.” 

“Did you laugh, Billy?” 

“No, of course not, William; it wouldn’t have 
been polite, but it was funny seeing her fall and 
things running in every direction. But I just 
wouldn’t laugh when the other boys laughed. 
She was a poor old woman and trembled terri¬ 
bly. I ran to help her up and then picked up 
her things. She asked me to help her get home. 
She is very poor and works for people, and when 
she got to her tumble-down-looking house she 
thanked me just as polite and nice as any lady 
and said, ‘Little boy, you must have a nice 
mother to teach you such good manners. You 
have the courtesy of Sir Walter Raleigh.’ ‘Who 
is he?’ I asked her, but she only said, ‘Ask your 
mother.’ What’s courtesy, William?” 

“Why, Billy, don’t you know? Courtesy means 

[41 ] 


The Whispering Fairy 

politeness, and don’t you know who Sir Walter 
Raleigh was?” 

“I do,” sang out Harold. “He was the po¬ 
litest man that ever lived. Why, Billy, what do 
you think he did ?” 

“What ?” 

“Why, one day he met the Queen out walking. 
She came walking along and there was a big mud 
puddle right in the way, and she had to walk 
right in it to get by, and I don’t suppose she had 
on any rubbers. Well, Sir Walter Raleigh was 
so polite he jerked off his fine silk military cape, 
like Uncle Jim’s, only finer, and he spread it 
right over that muddy place for the Queen to 
walk on so she wouldn’t muddy her feet.” 

“Oh, Harold,” exclaimed several of the mem¬ 
bers, “did she walk on his fine cape?” 

“Sure,” said Harold. 

“What did she say?” asked Martha. 

“Why, the Queen was so pleased she thanked 
Sir Walter.” 

“And what did he say?” 

“Why, he said, of course, ‘You are welcome; 
don’t mention it,’ and the Queen shook hands 
with him and made him a Knight.” 

“What’s a Knight?” asked Billy. 

[ 42 ] 


Courtesy 


“Why, it’s a big rank like a military general, 
a champion,” said William. 

“Well, Billy is a champion too,” said Betty. 
“I think it was just as nice and polite to help 
that poor old lady, and nicer too when those 
boys were laughing. They had no courtesy. I 
wish they knew about Sir Walter Raleigh.” 

“Let’s have courtesy for our watchword for 
the coming week,” said William, “and see how 
courteous and polite we can all be.” 

“Oh, yes,” said Harold, “for Uncle Jim says 
politeness is the true test of a gentleman or lady. 
No real gentleman or lady is ever impolite or 
rude.” 

“My grandmother told me that, too,” said 
Martha, “and she is reading me a little book 
called ‘The Charm of Fine Manners,’ by her 
friend, Mrs. Starrett. It is lovely and it says 
good manners mean good breeding and good 
bringing up, and we must always be polite.” 

“Goodness!” said Mary, “then no one must 
ever get angry and say mean things.” 

“No real lady ever does,” said Helen. “If real 
ladies get mad they control their tempers and 
don’t forget their manners and say ugly, mean 

[ 43 ] 


The Whispering Fairy 

things to hurt people’s feelings just because they 
are mad about something.” 

“They must live by the Golden Rule,” said 
Betty. “I believe the whispering fairy whis¬ 
pered to Sir Walter Raleigh, and she surely did 
whisper to Billy to help that old lady.” 

“Let’s go to see that poor old lady,” said Mar¬ 
tha, “and take her some flowers from our Club 
garden.” 

“Oh, yes, we will,” replied Betty, “and Billy 
will go with us and show us where she lives.” 

And Billy did go with them and the old lady 
was so glad to see the little girls, what do you 
think she did? Why, she gave them the pret¬ 
tiest little gray kitten you ever saw, and now 
they have a kitten and two puppies and a bunnie 
rabbit, and two robins that live in the bird box 
on the tree. 

All the Tots love the pets and bring them to 
all the meetings so they can play together in their 
playgrounds. They named the little kitten the 
old lady gave them “Queenie,” for Queen Eliza¬ 
beth, and Queenie has a blue ribbon around her 
neck and is very proud of it. 


[ 44 ] 



Chapter VII 
GRATITUDE 

Thk Fairies’ Birthday Party 

One day the members of the Tots’ Club were 
gathered in the army tent Harold’s Uncle Jim 
had loaned them for a Club House. It was rain¬ 
ing and they could not play out doors, so they 
began to cut paper dolls and fix a play house. 
In the middle they fixed a large round table made 
of pasteboard, and they had little pasteboard 
chairs all around it. They decorated it with 
flowers and grass and shells and rocks and all 
sorts of things they had brought in. It looked 
so pretty, William said it looked just like Fairy¬ 
land. Now all the members of the Tots’ Club 
loved fairy tales, and especially stories told them 
by their teacher of the little Whispering Fairies 
that whisper good thoughts to tell little children 
how to do kind deeds to make others happy. 
Cathering said, “William, our doll house does 
look like Fairyland, sure enough, so let’s turn it 
into a real fairy house and make a real party 


[ 45 ] 


The Whispering Fairy 

for all the fairies.” “Fine! Fine!” cried all the 
Tots. “Let’s make it a real, sure-enough birth¬ 
day party for the fairies.” They all clapped 
hands, and Bunnie and the doggies whisked about 
in great glee. William ran home, as the sun had 
come out, and brought a lot of tiny candles and 
some cake and candy and goodies of all kinds 
his mother fixed for the party. Everything was 
put on the table and the candles were ready for 
lighting. All the Tots gathered around waiting 
to see the candles lit. 

“This looks like our Thanksgiving dinner,” said 
Betty. “We had everything but candles.” 

“Well, this can be a thanksgiving party,” said 
William, “for this is some of our Thanksgiving 
cake and goodies left over from our Thanksgiv¬ 
ing dinner yesterday, and we will give the fairies 
a Thanksgiving birthday party.” 

“What’s Thanksgiving for?” asked Billy. 

“Why, Billy, thanksgiving is being grateful and 
having gratitude for all the blessings and good 
that have come to us through the year, and all 
the churches ring their bells and hold services on 
Thanksgiving.” 

“And we are going to celebrate the dear little 

[ 46 ] 


Gratitude 

fairies’ birthdays with real thanksgiving, aren't 
we, William,” said Mary. 

“Oh, we love the fairies, don't we, Mary?” 
said Betty. I love to think about fairies and I 
think they will all come to enjoy their party. 
Let’s light the candles quick, quick, quick!” 

William got a match and lit the candles that 
were arranged all around the table and in the 
middle. 

“Now let’s keep still,” said Betty, “and watch 
for the fairies—let’s call them.” 

Mary tinkled a tiny bell and then they all called 
softly: “Little fairies, little fairies, come to your 
birthday party, little fairies.” 

Catherine whispered: “I think the fairies are 
coming. I think I hear them! Oh, let’s go 
and bring our teacher over to see them! Let’s 
take her some of this home-made candy and 
cake.” 

“I say, Catherine,” whispered Jack, “the fair¬ 
ies are certainly here; it must have been a good 
fairy that whispered in your heart to carry a 
treat to our teacher.” 

“Sure,” whispered Jim, who had already fixed 
a slice of cake and some candy on a plate and 
covered it with pretty red leaves and a rose on 

[ 47 ] 


The Whispering Fairy 

top. “Sure they are here!” The Tots all whis¬ 
pered, “The fairies are here; the fairies are here; 
we know thy are here.” “I think I see a tiny 
fairy sitting on that pansy by the red candle 
there,” whispered Jack. “I am sure there is one 
sitting right on the heart of this red rose we 
are taking our teacher,” whispered Jim. “Oh, I 
think I hear them flitting all around,” whispered 
Charlotte. Martha was so excited she took the 
little doll bell and tinkled it for the fairies to 
dance by. The Tots were so happy they couldn’t 
stay still any longer. They all got up to go 
across the avenue to surprise their teacher with 
some of the party and to bring her to see the 
table and candles. They went in the teacher’s 
studio very quietly and slipped the plate near 
her on the desk where she was sitting. The 
teacher looked up and said, smiling: “Why, the 
fairies must have been here. Oh, how pretty, 
how pretty and sweet!” 

“Look under the flowers,” said Catherine, com¬ 
ing forward. All the children gathered round as 
the teacher lifted the pretty leaves and flowers 
and found the candy and cake in the bottom of 
the plate. ‘Oh! Oh! how nice, how nice,” she 

[ 48 ] 


Gratitude 

said. “I knew the fairies were about. I am so 
much obliged.” 

“Well,” said the children, “we came to invite 
you to see our Fairyland where we are giving 
the fairies a party.” The teacher was delighted 
to go, and, surrounded by the happy members of 
the Club, went with them to the party. When 
she saw the Fairyland they had made and all 
the paper dolls and flowers and the little red 
candles lit and shining like tiny stars, she was so 
pleased and happy she exclaimed, “Oh, how 
pretty! But whose birthday is it ?” The chil¬ 
dren danced around in glee, and they said, laugh¬ 
ing, “Guess. It’s the fairies' birthday. We are 
giving the fairies a thanksgiving birthday party.” 

“Well, it is the prettiest birthday party I ever 
saw,” said the teacher, “and the only birthday 
party to fairies I ever heard of. I am sure the 
fairies are delighted and are flitting about and 
dancing all around and having a jolly good time. 
I can almost fancy I see them, but the whisper¬ 
ing fairies, you know, are invisible; they are 
the good thoughts that whisper to us when we do 
kindly deeds to make others happy.” 

“Yes, we know,” said William, “and this is 
a thanksgiving birthday party to the fairies in 


[ 49 ] 


The Whispering Fairy 

gratitude for all the good thoughts they bring 

US.” 

“How lovely,” said the teacher. “I wish all of 
my class at school belonged to the Tots’ Club. 
And now, children, in gratitude for your kind¬ 
ness in bringing me some of the party and invit¬ 
ing me to see the Fairyland you have made, I am 
going to tell you a story.” 

The children were delighted and they all sat 
down around the table to enjoy the goodies and 
listen to the pretty story from their dear teacher. 
It was a very happy birthday party and the fairies 
must have been well pleased as they skipped 
about on the flowers and grasses, and sat in the 
little pink shells to listen to the story, which was 
all about fairies, and they flew away to whisper 
the good news to other little children and to fill 
their hearts with love and gratitude and kind 
deeds to others. 



[ 50 ] 





























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